Sourav Ganguly comes down heavily on Marlon Samuels' critics

At no point did Ganguly say Samuels' action was unquestionable, rather what peeved him was that the West Indian was the only one who had been called while there were a host of others with worse action happily bowling unwarned.

Also the fact that Samuels had been bowling for some time for country and region without being called was in Ganguly's book good enough for him not to be called in the IPL.

"I am surprised that he has been warned. Because if you go around the IPL, you will see worse actions," he thundered during the media interaction on Monday, ahead of Pune's game against hosts Bangalore on Tuesday night.

After their last game against Chennai, Samuels' action was reported by the on-field umpires and told that while he could continue to bowl under IPL rules, a second such report would see him barred for bowling.

"I should not be saying it because we are all part of a competition. But if Marlon gets warned for his action, then there are probably a few around who are worse," added Ganguly, having by now fully warmed to the topic and gone into a mood Arjuna Ranatunga would have been proud of.

The former Indian captain obviously saw it as a case of injustice that only his bowler was being singled out. "So (as there are many around with worse actions) you got to be very, very careful when you warn someone and let somebody else go," he said.

"Whoever has done it has got to be careful because Marlon has bowled for the West Indies for two years and he hasn't been warned. He has bowled in first three games of the IPL and he hasn't been warned. And I don't know what different he did in his fourth game to be warned."

Asked if he had had a word with Samuels, in an effort to comfort him perhaps, Ganguly ruled out any such thing. "I just told him to keep bowling those yorkers and we'll see what happens."